


All Your Houses Crumble

by Zee (orphan_account)



Series: Weekenders [7]
Category: Bandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Ensemble - Freeform, Gen, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-26
Updated: 2007-12-26
Packaged: 2017-11-10 16:09:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/468165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Zee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"What happened? Did we win?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	All Your Houses Crumble

"Our tickets say we're going to Belleville. We *paid* to get to Belleville. What the hell do you mean, you don't have a Belleville station?"

The woman at the ticket counter looks at Vicky over her glasses and scratches her nose. "We haven't had a stop in Belleville for two years. There must have been a mix-up at the Geneva station if they sold you a ticket to Belleville."

Vicky tightens her grip on the edge of the ticket counter. Shit. She really should have expected this, but shit. "Well, why *isn't* there a greyhound station in Belleville anymore?"

"They're still recovering from hurricane damage," the woman--her nametag says Annette--says smoothly. It's the Hurricane lie this time: Vicky has also heard about an outbreak of Mad Cow Disease, West Nile, an earthquake, and a tornado to explain why Belleville is off the map.

Vicky would give anything to see Annette blink hard and then say, "Actually, it's because the whole town has been taken over by blood-sucking fiends, and generally they don't travel by Greyhound." Instead Annette scratches her nose again and looks past Vicky at the next customer in line.

Vicky goes back to the corner of the station where Jesse and Tyga are sitting on the floor, Tyga slumped asleep on Jesse's shoulder and Jesse looking cranky. Tyga is drooling a little bit on Jesse's t-shirt; Vicky thinks it's kind of cute.

"This is all your fault," she says, lightly kicking Jesse's outstretched foot. "We'd still have Garrett's car if it weren't for you."

"Yeah, well, see how good a driver you are with vampires on your tail," Jesse grumps. "Besides, it was wrong to drive a dead guy's car anyway. Disrespectful."

"Whatever." They've had this argument before, since Garrett died two weeks ago, and Vicky still thinks Jesse's full of shit. She sits down next to him. "Apparently there's no Belleville station, so we're kind of really fucked."

"And it was your fault that car chase even happened, since it's *your* fault we got stuck with this kid," Jesse continues, gesturing at Tyga. "Wow, yeah, that does kind of fuck us. Do we have any money for a hotel?"

"Nope. That credit card I found--"

"That credit card you *stole*--"

"--finally got cancelled, and I only have maybe twenty bucks in cash."

They both look at Tyga, who has snuggled closer to Jesse. 

"Do you think he has any money?" Vicky says. "He's pretty fast asleep, you could probably check his pockets."

"Someday you're going to suggest we do something moral and upstanding and I'm going to die of shock," Jesse says. "I am not stealing money from the orphaned teenager currently sleeping in my lap."

"It's not like you weren't thinking it, too," Vicky snaps. "Besides, you think he's annoying."

Jesse shakes his head and frowns at her, and Vicky has no idea how he manages to hold on to his catholic ability to guilt-trip and frown on everything when they've been running from vampires for the last month and a half. She really wishes that her attempt to steal the car and leave him behind last week had succeeded. 

"Fine, then." She pokes Tyga--god, what a ridiculous name--hard in the shoulder, then again when he only grunts. "Hey, kid. Wake up."

Tyga opens his eyes and immediately jerks away from Jesse's shoulder, glaring at both of them--which is pretty much the only facial expression she's seen on him since they found him up in Geneva. "What?"

"You got any money? We're stuck in Scranton, and we need a hotel."

"No," Tyga says so fast that Vicky's positive he's lying. From Jesse's snort, he's come to the same conclusion.

"Look, it's not like you'd just be giving it to us, you need somewhere to sleep, too," he says.

"I don't have a fucking cent, okay?"

Vicky sighs. "Kid. Come on. When we met you you were running with a gang who lived by stealing--"

"Yeah, we stole food and shit to live," Tyga snaps. "If I had any money, do you really think I'd still be hanging with you losers?"

"Charming," Jesse mutters. Vicky fucking hates teenagers.

"Fine," Vicky says, leaning back against the grubby wall. "Okay, whatever. I guess we're stuck here for the night. If anyone has any idea of how we can get to Belleville with no car of our own and no bus station there, I'm all ears."

"Wait, you mean you got us stranded here?" Tyga's voice rises, high and indignant. "Nice! Real nice."

Ridiculous to expect that they could just buy a bus ticket to Gerard and Wentz's resistance, anyway. Stupid. Vicky's tired of making mistakes.

"Is there a library or cyber cafe or something around here?" Jesse says. "I don't know, maybe if we asked online, someone would be willing to give us a ride in."

"Oh, *that*'ll work," Tyga says, sarcastic in that way that only asshole sixteen-year-old boys can really perfect. "Really, like, damn, what a brilliant awesome plan! Let's ask our facebook buddies for help!"

"Got a better idea, asswipe?" Jesse says. Vicky doesn't think the idea sounds at all feasible, either, but they don't really have anything else to go on. 

They get a phone book and find that the closest internet cafe is across town, a half hour walk. Tyga whines, but Jesse and Vicky agree (for once) that with not even twenty bucks cash, they definitely can't waste any on a bus ticket. Early April and it's still cold, and her feet hurt, and halfway there Jesse starts muttering about needing a drink. Vicky really can't believe she got stuck with them.

She'd been aware of the whole vampire thing for most of the past year, but it hadn't affected her too much--she just moved to a better neighborhood. But then all her neighbors started acting strangely, really ditzy and dreamy all the time, and then there was that conversation with Monica. Monica had seen vamps before, had lost a second cousin to them, but one day when Vicky mentioned them Monica thought that Vicky was crazy; she just looked confused when Vicky mentioned her cousin.

Vicky found a facebook group for humans in the know, and Jesse, Garrett and John were the only people in Holbrook in the group. It's not like any of them really wanted to get involved, but then John got turned and started hunting them. They didn't have a destination at first, they were just getting as far away from Long Island as they could, but then Garrett dug deeper online and heard about Belleville, about Pete Wentz The Good Vampire and Gerard Way and a human fighting group, and Vicky doesn't really know why she's dragging them all to New Jersey considering that she didn't even really believe Garrett at the time. It's just somewhere to go.

Jesse is the one really hooked into the web groups about vampire awareness, and Vicky and Tyga look over his shoulder as he types furiously. The barista keeps looking over at them, a hard look on her face, and Vicky finds herself sizing her up: does she seem more graceful than humans should be? Is her jaw just slightly misshapen? 

Vicky makes herself turn away, and nudges Tyga in the ribs. "You really need to give us your real name. I can't keep calling you 'Tyga' with a straight face."

He lifts his chin, defiant. "Tyga's my name now. Who I was before died when I lost my home."

Vicky bites her lip to stop the giggles, because really, she couldn't laugh, it's not something to laugh about, it's just that he's so very sixteen. 

"Fine, but Tyga's really stupid-sounding," Jesse says without looking away from the screen. "If you want, like, a new identity or something, why not just choose some neutral, strong-sounding name? Like John."

"Wow, Jesse, that's pretty creepy of you," Vicky says. "Would you like his last name to be Nolan, as well?"

Jesse doesn't turn to meet her eyes, but she knows the scowl on his face is for her. He doesn't say anything, and Vicky knows that was going way too far. Somewhere between the car crash and her last real meal a day and a half ago, the filter between what she thinks and what comes out of her mouth is pretty much gone.

She'll apologize later. She nudges the kid again. "Why Tyga?"

The tough expression on his face falters slightly. "It was just sort of a nickname, that's all."

"No *shit!*" Jesse is actually grinning, sitting up taller in the computer chair. "I don't believe this. There's a group of people from [location later] who were planning on driving to Belleville to meet up with the hunters there, and they said that they can take off tonight and come through Scranton to bring us along!"

Tyga whoops, and Vicky grins herself, but "That sounds way too good to be true. How do we know they're not vamps?"

"We don't," Jesse says, still cheerful. "We'll have to be on our guard when they come through, and they'll probably do the same with us. But really, if the blood-suckers have people involved in the web groups, we'd probably already be dead."

The barista is very close to them, wiping off tables and desks that, to Vicky, don't look like they need to be cleaned. Vicky's not sure how much she heard, if any. "Let's go," she says.

Jesse looks confused for a second, but then his face goes blank as he clues in and logs out of the computer; Tyga opens his mouth to ask why, but Vicky grips his arm, squeezing until he winces and nods. They file out, walking as quickly as they dare as soon as they're out the doors.

"We're meeting them back at the Greyhound station," Jesse says when they're far enough away. "They probably won't get here until, I don't know, three in the morning? Ish? We'll have to just nap on the floor or something."

Vicky and Tyga sleep the first half of the night, and Jesse the second half--Tyga could really keep sleeping, but he insists that he's not tired anymore, hunching his chest over his knees and scowling. Jesse is using his coat as a pillow and drooling on it.

Vicky wraps her arms around her knees, mimicking Tyga's position. "So, what happened in Geneva? How did you lose your home?"

She expects a glib or angry answer, expects to be shut out, but Tyga slumps down further and closes his eyes briefly. "My cousin got turned a few years ago, when I was in seventh grade. He--he disappeared for a few days, and then when he came back all I noticed was that he, like--smiled more? Only it wasn't his smile, not really."

Vicky thinks, belatedly, that she doesn't think she really wants to know all this. She doesn't want to hear about what happened to him or his family when he was, christ, still in junior high.

"He and Matt used to let me hang out with them all the time, and I was over at his house with Matt when Travis just, like--he moved so fast and then he had Matt and he was biting him and I--I yelled and I ran at him but he just knocked me aside. I woke up later and he was gone, Matt was dead, his mom was gone--and there was this whole gang of 'em in town, they all made their move that night, they burned all these houses down--"

Tyga sits up jerkily, pushing his back up against the wall instead of slumping over his knees. "My old house got burnt down, and I don't know what happened to my parents. Tyga was Travis's name for me, so. Yeah."

Vicky has no idea what to say. Tyga's just looking at her, and she looks back. 

"Okay, Tyga it is then," she says. He rolls his eyes.

"I'm--we're--not going to let anything happen to you," she adds. "And we're going to find other people who have lived through the same shit you have, and we're going to fight them."

Tyga knocks the back of his head against the wall and looks straight ahead. "Yeah, I know. I can't fucking wait."

***

William stares miserably out the penthouse window. It's raining. 

"You act like you'll melt," Travis says behind him. "You the wicked witch of the west or something?"

William scowls and traces a design through the condensation on the cold window glass with his fingertip. "I just don't want to go hunting in it, that's all." He stops drawing and turns around, grinning at Travis. "You should bring me something."

Travis rolls his eyes. "I don't run your errands for you, Billy. Get Brendon for that."

William keeps himself from grinding his teeth--the last time Gabe visited, he called William 'Billy' all the time and now Travis is doing it, too. "It's not an errand. It's a gesture of affection."

"Uh, huh." Travis is right there suddenly, smooth and fast, his palm on William's bare hip. "You'll make it up to me?"

"Of course." William leans into the touch and gives Travis his smile again. "I'm not high maintenance, really."

Travis snorts and William says " _Really_ ," drumming his fingers on Travis' arm and leaning in to nuzzle his neck. "I'm in the mood for someone nice and chubby," he suggests helpfully, and Travis laughs. William's gotten what he wants.

Except that he still doesn't want to be inside. He can't keep himself from moving when Travis leaves, prowling the spacious confines of the still-new apartment, pressing his nose against the glass for his worth-millions view of Chicago from the top--obscured by inclement weather, now. He's restless.

He presses his palm against the glass. There's still so much more of this city to take. He doesn't miss living in the warehouse, but he misses living without having to hide what he is; misses walking the streets of his neighborhood with his own kind all around him, being able to take whatever life he wanted off the streets. He doesn't have that kind of control here. His landlord thinks he's a trust fund baby.

He doesn't have that kind of control here _yet._ William wants downtown. And he knows he'll have it, but he seems to be losing more and more of his patience as the year goes on.

 _No_ , he admits to himself with a grimace. _You've just been agitated since February._ Since the end of February, since that god damn dream.

He hasn't told Travis or Gabe about it, about what's been on his mind for two months now. He _knows_ he shouldn't let himself get so worked up by the psychic leftovers of a connection he hasn't felt since Pete ran from him, by a silly little dream about one of his old pets. But even now just the memory of it makes him sweat and he can feel his mind reaching out automatically for someone that isn't even in the city limits, for someone who is completely closed off to him.

Except no, not completely. Not as closed off as William had thought. 

He remembers the dream vividly, how it had kept him asleep the whole night when he should have been hunting, how none of Brendon's efforts to wake him had worked. In the dream he had felt Pete, been inside Pete, and it was all hunger. Hunger for blood, hunger for violence, hunger for William. Pete had wanted to kill and he'd wanted to fuck, and William remembers a feeling of recognition, as if Pete realized he was there and was glad for it, welcomed him. It had felt like coming home, it had felt like him and Pete at the beginning, it had felt powerful and warm. 

William also remembers Pete asking him to sing to him, although the request wasn't in words, wasn't in a way that William could explain if he were asked about it.

Briefly in the dream he had seen out of Pete's eyes, seen the humans all around him trying to help him or restrain him, but William doesn't remember their faces so much as the exciting realization that Pete wasn't thinking of them as his friends or allies--he saw them as food.

William knows better than to hope that Pete has permanently regressed. He's heard of vampires going into trances or going feral on the anniversaries of when they turned, at least in their first few years; he doesn't remember his first two years hardly at all, but he thinks he can remember being extra hungry on that day. And considering the psychic imprint he'd left on Pete's mind early on, it's not surprising that that night would rekindle a connection for Pete that was usually severed.

William knows all that, but it doesn't mean that the mere memory of the dream doesn't make his mouth go dry, doesn't make him _hungry._ He'd woken up feeling so exhilarated, so fresh and so powerful--so powerful. Brendon and Travis had had to talk him down from taking off immediately for Belleville, for searching for Pete himself and dragging him back. Because William wants him, and in the past year he's gotten every single thing he's wanted and more, everything except him. The dream reminded him of that.

William makes himself turn away from the window before he gives in to the urge to smash his fist through it. Maybe the glass shards would fall fast and hard and slice through the delicate skins of all the people hurrying on the sidewalk stories below him. He wants to kill someone, he just doesn't want to get his coat wet or get mud on his new shoes.

He returns to pacing the apartment until Travis returns with a little fat boy, ten. Travis looks slightly annoyed when William doesn't even take his time with it, ripping the throat out and gulping quickly before tossing the body aside, instead. It's not a nice way to accept a gift, and William knows it.

William pulls Travis to him and pushes some of the blood still on his tongue into Travis's mouth with the kiss, pressing himself hard against Travis's chest as he does it. "Thank you," he says when he pulls away, and Travis seems slightly mollified.

"You've been such a little bitch lately," he says, keeping an arm around William's waist so that he can't pull away far. "Which's not that different from normal, but..."

William bounces on the balls of his feet and pushes back the sudden strong urge to push Travis away, to move, to go back to pacing. The desire to shatter that window hasn't left him. "I'm just edgy. You know how I feel about this city, Travie. I'm sick of only having half of it."

"We'll have the whole thing, baby," Travis says, but his voice is more dry than flirtatious. "You know the deal. We can't move too fast here, not when it's all going down so fast in New York. Not two big cities at once, man."

William scowls. "I'm getting sick of holding back my hand just because Gabe tells me it might help him. _We_ don't have anything to do with the east coast."

Travis gives him a calculating look, and suddenly William wonders whether Travis has already guessed what's been on William's mind. "We don't, huh? So you don't care about the kind of.... resistance Gabe meets."

William glares at him. "It's Gabe's mess," he shoots back. "He can handle that rag tag little group of vigilantes, or not handle them the way he has been. It's not my city. I don't care."

"Good," Travis says, smiling and letting him go. "Because I don't give a shit about what goes down back east, either. I'm just saying that it'll be easier to get what we want done around here if we wait until Manhattan's fallen completely."

"Maybe," William mutters, wrapping his arms tight around himself. 

"Also, Maja's visiting," Travis says, and William's head jerks up from where he was staring moodily at the floor. "I just got the call from Gabe. And I don't think we want to do anything right under her nose, do you?"

"He called you just today?" William says sharply. "Why hasn't he contacted me yet?"

Travis meets William's eyes and raises his eyebrows, slowly. "Got me. Maybe he thinks you're distracted."

William bristles. No matter how much Pete is in his thoughts lately, he'd never let it interfere with plans for the city, nor with Gabe's plans. He made that decision long ago and has stuck to it, and if Gabe believes differently...

If *Travis* believes differently. "Do *you* think I'm going to let thoughts about the traitor influence my job here?" William demands, blunt.

Travis drops his gaze. "Nah," he says, and William can't really tell how serious he is. What Travis is actually thinking. It bothers him.

He shoves the suspicion towards the back of his mind to deal with later and turns back toward the window, stretching languidly. "So, Maja. Is there a special occasion for this little treat? What the hell does she want?"

"I've been trying to figure that out," Travis says. "Gabe was pretty vague. It probably has something to do with their human problems."

William snorts. "Of course it does. I hope she's running to us for help with dealing with a few weak _humans._ That would be priceless."

"Not just weak humans," Travis mutters. William can feel Travis' eyes staring at his back. He doesn't turn around.

Maja arrives in a private jet the next day, with Travis and William meeting her at the airport. There's no sign that human renegades have been doing their best to kill her or at least make her life hell for the past several months; she's as beautiful as ever, and as soon as her heeled foot steps onto the landing strip she flashes a fanged smile in the dark. "I'm hungry."

William takes her hunting in his favorite neighborhood, his old neighborhood, the part of the city that's been all his since he only lead the Dandies, as opposed to every gang in the city. If she's at all impressed at how total their control is over this part of town and others, she doesn't show it.

The three of them go to one of the more expensive restaurants in the financial district, and the food isn't nearly good enough to justify the price, and the gin and tonic William orders is mostly flat. He finds himself more annoyed by that than he possibly should be, and thinks about killing the waiter or one of the cooks after they finish their meal.

They don't have many pleasantries to exchange, and they get down to business during dinner. "I want some of your people," Maja says as she cuts her rare steak, red juice spilling over the knife and fork, dripping off her lips when she bites. She wipes her mouth primly and smiles at them.

Travis makes a derisive noise and William rolls his eyes. "No," he says flatly. 

"The situation in New Jersey is more complicated than you think, and affects you more than you think." She meets William's eyes on 'affects you,' and William wonders how much Gabe has told her about him and Pete. "The humans are expanding their little operation, and they've managed to evade our efforts to wipe them out."

"It's not our problem you guys are pussies, then," Travis says, and William agrees. Maja doesn't rise to the bait; she just smiles more.

"I don't think you really understand," she says. "We've been able to find out that they've been joined by human fighters who've come from your own backyard--who heard about them _from Chicago._ More and more people are joining them, which means that more and more humans are finding out about us. We need to wipe them out completely."

" _You_ need to wipe them out completely," William says. "Christ, how incompetent are you back east? When a resistance group started growing here, we squashed it in one summer and sent them running out of the city--and now under _your_ nose they've somehow managed to flourish to the extent you're telling me. You and Gabe need to take care of your own mess, especially if it is growing beyond the tri-state area like you're suggesting."

"You say you sent them running like that was your actual goal," Maja sneers. "Revisionist history, William? Trying to pretend that they didn't fumble their way out of your prison when you had the whole Chicago police department to help you?"

"Either way, they're not here," Travis says as William turns red. "I don't know why the fuck Gabe thinks he can _order_ us to--"

"This is not a penis size competition." Maja's smile is gone in an instant and she's leaning forward. "Think for a minute. They're communicating with humans who are fighting all across the country. They are _building a movement_ , and they have a vampire on our side--have you ever thought of how many of your own people you've angered, made resentful? Are you utterly certain that none of your people would listen to one of their own kind negotiating with them to kill you in your sleep?

"You don't own this city yet," she continues. "You are as vulnerable as ever and if they stir up the same kind of hunting group here that they have in Jersey, they could make things very difficult for you. Stop bristling like dogs and think of saving your own stupid necks."

William realizes distinctly that someday, he would very much like to kill her.

"We'll discuss it," William says. 

"There's nothing to discuss," Maja says in the same flat, serious tone. 

"If Gabe expects us to make the decision immediately, you can tell him--"

"You misunderstand me. There is nothing for you to discuss; I will be returning east with some of your numbers whether you give your blessing or not."

William smirks, and Travis bursts out laughing. "You crazy bitch, you really think you've got enough power to just take our people out from under us?"

"No," Maja says, and her smile is sweet. "I am bluffing."

Travis's laughter dies down, and William feels frustration building inside him again. Travis stands. "You can find a hotel on your own," he says. "We're done for the night."

William leaves with him, neither of them looking back, and he can feel tension and anger in every muscle in his body. On their way out of the restaurant he grabs a waiter walking by the back door by the neck, dragging him outside, silencing his voice with a telepathic impulse.

Once outside, William feels full, it's just that he's _furious_ , he wants--

He snaps the man's neck and throws him several yards away, imagining it's Maja. "Fuck her. She's right."

"You think she can just take our guys out without our say-so?" Travis says, disbelieving, and William shakes his head.

"No, she was just trying to fuck with our heads with that line. She's right that we need to--to contribute to their fight with the fucking stupid _humans,_ that we need to help flatten the vigilantes now since she let them get so fucking far in the first place." He breathes through his mouth and dearly wants to hit something, break something else.

Travis is scowling and his hands are clenched into fists, like he feels similarly. "They're gonna owe us."

"Of course they will, in the future," William says bitterly. "But that doesn't mean we're not going to be surrendering to what they want here and now."

Travis sucks in a loud breath. "Why'd Gabe send her instead of coming himself?"

"I don't know. Pride? A desire to infuriate us?" William knows that he's feeling more hurt than anything else from Gabe right now, and hates himself for it.

"Shit," Travis mutters, running a hand through his curls. "Okay. I guess we'll tell her in the morning and work something out."

This meant one thing good, at least, William thought as they headed back to the penthouse. If Gabe was gathering more people it meant he was finally getting truly serious about wiping the trouble-makers out; it meant that Pete and his scum were as good as dead. It meant Pete would soon be gone from William's mind for good. William smiles and wraps an arm around Travis as soon as they get inside.

***

The car that picks them up in Scranton smells like weed. Not because Vin and Derrick actually have any (Jesse asked immediately upon getting a whiff of the vehicle), but because it's just been steeped into the upholstery.

In the backseat there's a faint odor of sour milk blending in with the pot stink. Vicky doesn't want to know. 

Vin is driving and Derrick is in the passenger seat; Jesse claims that Tyga should have to sit in the middle in the back, since he's the smallest, but Vicky volunteers for the bitch seat so that Tyga can sleep against the window. Tyga glares at her like he suspects that she's pitying him, trying to be nice now that she's heard his story, but he's asleep within minutes in the window seat anyway.

Vicky's thigh is pressed up against Jesse's and every so often his leg starts jittering, bouncing up and down before he stills, like he has to make a conscious effort to not let it move. His hand rests on his leg, then rubs the stubble on his chin, then adjusts his stupid knit cap, then hangs over his knees--Vicky grits her teeth and slumps back and folds her arms over her chest and doesn't fidget.

Vin says that he's from Long Island, and it doesn't take long for him and Jesse to get into a casual dick-size competition over who's seen more local shows. Vicky tunes it out, and finds that the scratchy soft high tone of Jesse's voice chattering softly about music is pretty good background noise to fall asleep to. She wakes up with her cheek resting on his shoulder and sits up immediately, embarrassed, but he doesn't say a word about it, thankfully.

"We're almost there," Vin says, meeting her eyes in the rearview mirror. "I think we've got another half hour, maybe?"

"God," Jesse says, more an exhalation of breath than any kind of statement, and Vicky feels the same way. Finally. _Finally._ It's not so much that they'll have gotten to Belleville, it's that they'll have gotten _somewhere,_ and maybe she won't have to make any more hard decisions. Maybe she can finally get away from Jesse Lacey for more than five minutes, too.

She catches Tyga's eye and grins and he grins back, looking extraordinarily young. Finally.

The sun has just barely set when they get to the outskirts of town, and Vicky isn't sure whether it's the nightfall or the reality of Belleville that makes all conversation in the car die completely. The buildings look more like shells than anything else, most of them at least halfway burnt down or featuring plenty of broken or boarded up windows. Vicky can't see any people anywhere, and there's trash all over the streets and sidewalks--not just litter but completely random things just tossed out into the gutter, couches and freezers and tennis rackets. Sometimes Vicky thinks she sees movement in the shadows.

Vin has heard that the resistance group they're looking for is holed up in the town high school, and his info sounds more reliable than the rumor Vicky and Jesse heard that they were in the main town library. So of course they get lost, and Jesse and Derrick and Vin all argue about what turns they should be taking to get to the school and Tyga calls them all idiots. It's getting darker.

They're passing through downtown Belleville when Vicky sees him. She sees the fancy cars first, a sleek limo and another black car that Vicky can't identify but looks expensive. There are several figures moving from the cars to what looks like a big abandoned club, a band's name that Vicky doesn't recognize still being advertised in the marquee. The headlights from the car illuminate their faces for a few moments, and the oldest-looking one looks up. 

Vicky blinks hard. She didn't exactly pay close attention to politics back home, but she knows what New York City's mayor looks like.

"Hang on, slow down--" her voice cuts through the bickering, and Vin doesn't slow down so much as screech to a halt, jolting them all. The group of men surrounding Rudy Giuliani moves faster, hustling him inside the club, and Giuliani ducks his head, but Vicky knows what she saw.

"Was that--?" says Vin; he must have recognized him, too. 

_"Weird,"_ says Derrick, and Jesse nods enthusiastically. Definitely very weird.

"I'm fucking hungry," Tyga says. "Are we going to just stay in the middle of the street all night? Does anyone know where we're _going_ yet?"

Vin looks over his shoulder to glare at the kid, but takes the random turn Tyga suggests when they start driving, and it surprisingly leads them to the high school. Vicky's fingers clench on her seat when they pull into the parking lot, and she can see Jesse's hand balled into a fist on his knee. She almost wants to take his hand and squeeze it, because they _have_ been searching for this place together for the last month and a half, but it's Jesse so she doesn't.

"Do you think we just go in, or what?" Vin says, but there's no need to figure it out--a group of guys are hanging out in front of the back doors to the school, close to the parking lot, and they notice the car pulling up, walking over to them. They all look very tense and one of them is carrying a crossbow.

"We're all human," Vin says quickly as soon as he cuts the engine and gets out. "We, uh, we were hoping we could--help, or find help, or."

They all get out of the car, and no one in their welcoming party looks very welcoming. Vicky says, "We've heard about Pete Wentz. We've been running from vampires for a while, trying to get here. We heard that sometimes you take in kids--people like us."

They keep looking closed-off, and Vicky wonders if she's going to have to resort to 'But we have a _child_ with us, please at least let him in!' to get them in the door. But the oldest-looking one, a tall guy with a big brown fro and the beginning of a beard, nods and then smiles. The smile seems to radically change his face.

"Come on in," he says. "I'll go get Brian and Gerard and you can talk to them."

The school seems heavy with emptiness, even with the guys taking them through the halls and more people coming in and out of classroom doors--most of them look pretty young. They all stop and stare when they see the newcomers, and Vicky recognizes the same tension in their faces that she's carried in her body since she left home.

"I'm Joe," the guy leading them says. "This is Butcher and Andy. We don't use most of the classrooms here, really just the gym for the training and--here, the principal's office." 

The principal's office doesn't bear much resemblance to any office that Vicky remembers from her grade school days. All kinds of weapons are clustered in corners, and on the secretary desk there's a complex, huge computer system with an intimidating number of wires coming in and out of it. Very old-looking books, some of them clearly bound by hand, are on the shelves and on the couches. There's a fridge in the corner and a small table with a coffee maker, an open bottle of whiskey and a blender on it. Vicky can see a hall opening up into several rooms with beds in them.

"Weird," Jesse mutters. 

"More new ones?" Someone says, coming out from behind the computers. He's frowning slightly and looks kind of uptight in general. "Do we know how they found us?"

Joe looks at them, shaking his head. "Mostly through the internet," Jesse says to the uptight guy. "You know, facebook, forums, that stuff."

It seems to be the right answer--the guy relaxes slightly. Vicky guesses that most of the kids here probably found them that way, or through word of mouth. 

The uptight guy is named Brian, and they're told to sit down on the office couches while he goes to get Pete and Gerard. "Oh, hey," Vin says to Joe as Brian leaves. "Probably we should mention this: on the way here, we saw something pretty weird--"

Joe's eyes get round when Vin explains seeing Rudy Giuliani going into that club. "Oh, fuck," Joe whispers and wheels around, leaving the same way Brian had, presumably to go tell someone. 

"Um?" Vin says. Vicky and Jesse exchange looks. 

Brian returns with Gerard and Pete (and Vicky had known that this group supposedly had a "good" vampire with them, but it still gives her the creeps), and Vin explains the Giuliani sighting again to them, and then again when Joe comes back with even more people. They all have wild looks on their faces when Vin finishes, and they cluster together talking low so that Vicky and the other newcomers can't hear. It makes her nervous.

"I know where that is!" One of the guys, the really short and pretty one, is speaking louder. He looks excited. "Fuck man, I've seen like a thousand shows there--"

"--we don't know that Gabe or Maja will be there," another one interrupts, and their conversation becomes quiet and unintelligible again. Vicky sits back.

As soon as they're done talking, things happen fast. Everyone seems to scatter, moving to grab weapons and head out of the school to the parking lot, and Vicky feels herself caught up in the tide, walking quickly with the others. "What's happening?" she asks Brian.

Brian glances at her. "We think that, if Giuliani's in that club, the head vampires that control this area will also be there. This could be fucking huge, this could be the key to taking down monsters that we've been fighting against for years, but we have to move fast--hey, do you guys have a car?"

"I do," Vin says, and Brian nods.

"Okay, we need all the transportation we can get, so you can come and drive." Vin doesn't look exactly thrilled about the idea. "The rest of you guys need to stay here, along with the other new people."

"Hey, we can fight--" Jesse says, bristling, but Brian is already shaking his head.

"We don't know that. We barely met you guys a few minutes ago, we don't know if you'd be more of a hindrance or a help, whether or not you would just get yourselves killed. You're _staying here_ ," Brian insists, glaring at Jesse when he opens his mouth again. "Trust me, you'll get plenty of opportunities to kill the fuckers if you stay with us."

They're gone within minutes, three cars peeling out of the high school parking lot. Vicky can feel the energy buzzing in the air, and even though it's been only her and Jesse and Tyga for weeks, with all those people suddenly gone--

It's a cold night, and after the cars are out of sight she glances at Jesse. He shrugs, and they go inside with Tyga to look for something to eat.

***

Bob finishes his cigarette and lets it fall from his fingers out of the car window, already reaching for another. Frank is driving, Ray is shotgun, and Bob and Gerard and Pete are sitting in the back. All of the windows are down and everyone who's human is smoking. Frank keeps meeting Bob's eyes in the rearview mirror.

Bob thinks, we're on our way to try to assassinate the mayor of New York City.

Except no, they're not, they're on their way to try and take out the vampire mafia secretly running Manhattan and openly running most of Jersey and there's a difference. They don't know that Giuliani's not human, and the plan is to kidnap, not kill--but Bob knows that Gerard would rather Giuliani be killed than allowed to escape, if it comes to that. If they can even get near him, if he and Gabe or Maja are still at the club when they get there, if these new kids aren't lying, if they're all not heading straight into a death trap.

Bob can see the way Frank keeps flexing and clenching his fingers on the steering wheel. He wishes someone would say something. Gerard and Pete have their hands clasped and their heads bent towards each other, and Ray is staring out the window with his hair in his face, looking like he wouldn't even hear it if one of them tried to talk to him. Bob bites his tongue on asking Frank if they're fucking _there_ yet, christ.

"It's only a couple blocks away," Frank says then, and Bob smiles to himself. "How do we wanna do this?"

"Park in the back by the stage doors," Gerard says, and christ, fucking christ, Bob remembers going through these doors to do sound for shows countless times. He's smoked with musicians in the parking lot that Frank pulls the car into, gravel crunching under the tires. It's been three years since Belleville got taken and Bob mostly stopped getting hit by twisted nostalgia ages ago. Sometimes, though. Sometimes you can't help but remember.

The mayor of New York City is inside this building where Bob used to get paid to do sound, and Bob is going to try to kill him.

"Fuck," he hears Gerard mutter as they all get out of the car. The van and Vin's car pull in behind them, and Bob reaches out, puts his hand on Frank's lower back. Frank glances at him and smiles, and Bob drops his hand when Gerard calls out, "Let's go."

It's almost a guarantee that they're going in heavily outnumbered. They're bringing in all their people except the newbies they've gotten in the past month and the ones that came just this morning--Vin is coming because he has to drive his car, but Gerard'll put him with the four people guarding the exit. The rest of them--eleven, all together--are going right in, and Bob is certain that if both Gabe and Giuliani are really inside this club, there's going to be far more than eleven vampires swarming inside.

Bob knows the layout of the club--he's done sound here several times--and it's pretty small and basic, with a stage, a backstage and a floor for the audience. No other rooms to congregate in, no real way to take whomever's inside by surprise. Vin's group all said that they saw Giuliani going around the back, which means stage entrance; Pete pushes that door open now and rushes in with a scream.

Bob, Gerard and Frank follow Pete in, and Bob can hear crashes and yells on the other side of the building as the rest come through the main doors. Bob looks around at his surroundings (there's not a light on in the place, and that's a clear advantage to the vampires), gauging the enemy for a beat, two, before they're on him.

They're exactly as outnumbered as Bob had feared, but they''ve made a mistake already: they're focusing primarily on Pete, swarming him and underestimating the others. Bob only has two on him, Gerard only three, and with his small axe in one hand and a stake in the other Bob takes out his with a few sparse motions. He sees a glimpse of Giuliani in front of him, the way to him clear for the moment and Bob takes the opportunity. He races forward and Giuliani turns to him with the slow reflexes of a human, and Bob raises his axe--

Something heavy hits him from behind and Bob goes down hard, registering the sting of a puncture on the back of his neck. He hears a gutteral snarl in his ear and the vampire on his back hits the back of his head again, dizzying him. Bob plunges the stake behind him blind and hears a scream and the sound of it hitting flesh--he feels the thing's blood pour out onto his hair a second later. It's only wounded, not dead, but it's too busy trying to claw wood out of its neck to try and pound Bob's head in or suck him dry. Bob struggles up to his knees, looking up and--fuck, Giuliani is running, flanked by vampires slipping away out of another entrance--not the one they have guarded. Bob throws his axe,but another vampire gets shoved in front of Giuliani, taking the fall, and then he's gone.

Bob only has a second to let disappointment hit before more are on him, and he's fighting bare-handed for a few scary moments before he manages to get his second stake out. He takes care of them and with a glance around, he can see that outnumbered or not, his side is holding their own. Bob can see Andy fighting to get to the entrance that Giuliani left through, and he hopes that Andy will know enough not to go after Giuliani if he can't get there soon--he has no chance of catching him up if he's too far behind. And yes, Gabe is still trapped in here with them: Bob can see him fighting Gerard and laughing, sneering, moving so fast he looks almost liquid.

Bob sees Pete fighting his way to them, closer than Bob, and two of them is enough: if Bob tries to help it will only hinder them. Bob sees Gabe's grin disappear as Pete attacks him on his other side, and Bob turns back to his own fight with a yell, using his stake as a knife to slash one of their throats. He can draw more to him, make them gang up and keep Gabe's henchmen from helping him. He gets a stake in his other hand and fights as viciously as he knows how, yelling and using the stake to wound painfully instead of kill, draw them in, draw them in--

It works. It works too well, and Bob fights back the panic trying to suffocate him as he gets swamped. He's pissed them off, gotten them mad enough that they care more about bringing him down then assisting their leader. He tries to fight as efficiently as he can, killing more than one at a time when possible, but it seems like he gets two for every one he cuts down. Above the noises of his own fight he hears a triumphant cry from Gabe and an animal noise from Pete: when he twists he can see that Gerard is down and Pete is bent over him, leaving Gabe free.

Frank steps in to take their place, _no,_ fighting with two stakes and Bob forgets about distracting the vampires or defending himself. He throws a vampire off him and lunges forward, he needs to get there, Frank isn't a match by himself and he's so _small,_ and Bob feels another sting as he's bit again, as the remaining vamps on him bring him to his knees. He tries to get them off but he's already lost blood and he's distracted, panicked, he has to get to Frank. Some part of his mind is busy remembering that Frank brought this up as a concern back when they first got together, how it would make them weak if they got distracted by their feelings for each other during a fight. Bob feels weak, weaker than he's ever been, and he watches it happen almost in slow motion as Gabe dodges one of Frank's strikes and then snaps his own fist forward. His fist connects with Frank's temple and Bob can hear all the power that went into that blow. Frank slumps to the ground like dead weight.

Gabe laughs again, an expression of pure delight on his face. He turns around straight into the clean swing of Ray's axe behind him and Bob watches as his decapitated head spins and falls to the ground.

***

William feels edgy and impatient. He really wishes that Maja would just leave already, but no, she has them all waiting for her on the private landing strip while she finishes her conversation with her assistant. She's got a plane full of vampires from William and Travis' gangs, and she's keeping *all* of them waiting.

"This is ridiculous," William mutters, and he sees Travis nod tersely in agreement. They both just want Maja out of here, they want to forget that they gave in to her, they want to get back to Chicago. William feels a bitter taste in his mouth every time he thinks about sending his second-in-command and most of his best men to Gabe when Gabe hasn't bothered to speak to him in months, when Gabe sent this she-devil instead of dropping by himself.

Travis makes an impatient noise and starts forward, William guesses to interrupt Maja and tell her to get on her personal airplane and get the hell out already, but Maja's cell rings and she holds up a hand for Travis to wait as she answers. Travis fumes and William rolls his eyes.

"Say that again." Maja's voice is knife-like in the cold Chicago air, and when William looks up at her he sees any trace of expression slide off her face like water. She closes her phone, staring out at nothing that William can see.

"Gabe is dead," she says, and her voice quavers--she sounds young and human, and she's still staring.

"Bullshit," Travis says, and William already has his phone out, calling Gabe. It rings and rings and rings and William hangs up before it goes to voice mail, dialing Gabe's second. 

"You think you can lie about something like that? Think that shit's funny?" Travis is saying, advancing on Maja who actually takes a step back, looking smaller than William's ever seen her, and _no one is picking up_ \--

"Yeah?" William knows as soon as he hears Ryland's voice, near-hysterical and quavering just like Maja's had.

"Get me Gabe," William says. "Get me him, I need him, I need to talk to him right now--"

"He's dead. They, they found out about the meeting tonight somehow, we had no warning, the rebels--"

William drops his phone.

"You left him," William says. His own voice sounds far away and apart from himself, spoken by someone else; or maybe the red mass building and roaring between his ears and in front of his eyes has interrupted his hearing. "You left him," he says again, turning to Maja. "Exposed and vulnerable when you knew how dangerous the humans were, _you knew_ \--"

"He _asked_ me to, we didn't think--" Maja says at the same time that Travis turns back to him, saying "No, Bill, it's not--it can't be, she's--"

William hears himself bellow and he doesn't catch what the words are, and he can feel the impact against his hand when he strikes out at Maja, knocking her to the ground; he hears a gritty splashy sound as he hits her again and splits her lip; he feels pain in his shoulders as her guardian twists his arms and drags him off of her, pinning him to the ground. He hears Maja sob, he hears Travis murmuring "No," staring at them both with wide eyes. 

William can feel his rage like acid eating through his skin, and all he wants is to strike out, to kill and drink and drain and _Gabe is dead_ \--

Gabe is dead. 

He was killed by enemies, by humans that probably desecrated his body if they didn't just burn him alive in the first place, and there's no room in William's universe for Gabe to be dead. It was never a possibility. They were vampires and they were old and they were the best and they were _vampires._ Immortal.

 _But he was killed because of what he was,_ a voice speaks up in William's mind. _If you were humans, he wouldn't have been fighting, he'd be alive and with you now--_

William feels hot tears spring up quickly, sliding down his face and slicking his cheek where Maja's guardian is grinding it into the ground. He distantly hears Maja telling her to let him up, and a thump as Travis sits on the ground, still muttering to himself. The pressure is gone as Maja's girl lets him go, and William doesn't bother getting up. He closes his eyes.

He hasn't wished to be human since he was one. But now immortality sounds like the worst kind of torture, and he doesn't want to fight anymore, all he has is grief and regret and he wants Gabe here with him and he wants them both human and alive, breathing and alive, peaceful and alive, happy and alive--

Hunger pricks at the back of his mind and part of William coolly reminds him that he needs to feed soon. Yes. Yes, he needs to drink, he needs to kill, he needs. He opens his eyes.

"They're gonna go down," Travis's voice is shaky but cold as ice and determined. "Bill, we'll take care of them--"

"Yes," William says, again feeling as if he's hearing his own voice from far off. "Revenge." The red mass of rage is back but it's clearing his thoughts now instead of clouding them--it's helping him see exactly what he needs to do. 

"The humans and their pet vampire did it," Maja says, her voice knife-like again. "They need to pay." And William knows that she doesn't mean the renegades in Belleville. She means them all, and William can feel the purpose filling him, because _yes,_ that's exactly what they need to do. The entire human race is at fault and William can see now how he's been blind to this for years, focusing on petty violence and feuds when he should have been thinking bigger. They all deserve everything he can give them.

William stands, and the other two do as well. "So they will," he says, and he can feel his grief sliding away as something more useful fills its place. Oh, he _will_ do his grieving for his father and lover and friend, but first it's time to start what he should have a long time ago. Humans are sinful filth and the reason Gabe is gone, and it's time humanity was taken care of. William can see the redness behind his eyes transform into visions, red curtains of blood, the end of the human world. So close he can taste it.

And his old pet is in the midst of it. William feels his lips stretch into a grin as he thinks about Pete Wentz, about everything and everyone that Pete might hold dear. He wonders if Pete realizes he signed their death warrants when he took away Gabe.

"I think we're coming with you back East," Travis is saying to Maja, and when William nods, Maja's smile is bright and gleaming at both of them.

***

Everything is chaos. 

Bob can't see anything but the vampire in his face, and he rolls so he's on top and punches and tries to dislodge him, and he can feel blood trickling down his neck, and the creatures are shrieking and his people are yelling and Bob can't get a hand free for a stake. He gets a hand under the thing's jaw and makes it scream, and then there's someone dragging him off and Bob lashes out before he realizes it's Brian. Brian plunges a stake into the vamp Bob had been fighting, and then they have to deal with the rest.

The monsters haven't stopped fighting just because Gabe is dead. They're hysterical now and without a focus, but still dangerous, and now that Gabe is dead (holy shit) they really need to get the hell out.

Frank. Frank went down. "Frank--"

"He's alive, Ray's got him," Brian says, and Bob can see now, Ray with Frank over his shoulder, fighting one-handed. Brian and Bob struggle over to him and it's better now that they're in a block, Brian and Bob can cut the vamps in front of them down and clear a swathe to the door. Bob spares a glance behind him and sees Pete supporting Gerard, making his way to the other exit, the rest of their group also leaving through that door--

They're outside and Bob has never felt more grateful for the questionably-fresh cold Jersey air. He lets himself stumble, giddy from loss of blood and Brian gets a hand on his arm, "Dude, whoa--" and everything goes black.

He comes to in the car. "What--"

"Hey, shh." It's not Frank, it's someone else, and Bob wants-- "You're in the car, you were only out for a few minutes, but you lost a lot of blood. Try not to work yourself up too much."

Bob recognizes the voice now; it's Tom. When Bob looks up at him, he can see a nasty gash on Tom's cheek and jaw which is definitely going to scar. "How's Frank? How's everyone? Who made it out?"

"Everyone did. Darren... Darren's pretty bad off, but everyone's alive." Bob takes in a breath to speak, but Tom adds "And Frank's still unconscious, but he's just gonna have a nasty bump on his head, that's all."

Bob settles back down, his head in Tom's lap--Tom is tending to the bites on Bob's neck. Frank is fine; Bob is fine; everyone is fine, and Gabe is... 

They've killed Gabe. They won.

Bob will think about that later. "Did Andy catch up with Giuliani?"

"No, but--" Tom's face lights up. "Gabe, we got Gabe! Dude, Ray--"

"I know," Bob says. He can feel Tom's legs jiggling with excitement, and once he doesn't feel so light-headed he'll probably feel the same way, but right now Bob can still feel how hysterical and violent and _more dangerous_ the vampires were after they took out Saporta, and they didn't get Giuliani and Maja wasn't there, and...

When they get back to the school, Frank looks super pale, but at least he's walking. Bob touches his shoulders and just breathes, keeps space between them while Frank frowns and reaches out to touch the bite marks on Bob's neck. 

Bob steadies himself in to pull Frank in carefully, wrapping his arms around him and only squeezing when Frank squeezes him back. "Don't do that again," he mutters.

Frank huffs laughter. "Thanks to my use as a punching bag, Ray went off with her head. I think it's a fair trade."

"Don't--" Bob's hold gets tighter in spite of himself, and Frank's hand moves on Bob's neck, stroking up into his hair.

"No, I know," Frank says. "I know."

***

"So what happened?" Tyga's voice tries to be casual, but his adam's apple bobs as he swallows hard. He shrugs her off when Vicky puts a hand on his shoulder.

"Well, it looks like most of them came back, at least," Vicky says. "Beyond that, who the hell knows?" 

The guys that all left in a hurry have only been gone for a couple of hours, if that, but it's felt like forever. Jesse had found booze somewhere and is, as far as Vicky knows, still drinking in an abandoned math classroom, muttering at the walls--or maybe he's passed out by now. Tyga has been so fidgety and restless that it should drive her crazy to be around him, but Vicky feels the same way. He and Jesse are the only ones here that she's known for more than a day, and somehow the idea that it's down to these two for her was easier to ignore when they were on the road.

She can see the (hopefully) conquering heroes piling out of the two cars and the van, and most of them look pretty beat up--Vin's shoulder is bandaged up. There's a lot of hugging, and then shaky laughter, and then someone lets out a whoop and the laughter and cheers grow louder.

That has to mean good news. Vicky feels some of her tension start to ebb away. 

"What happened?" She asks the guy closest to her--Joe, right, it's Joe. Vicky's pretty bad with names. "Did we win?"

Joe gives her an ear-to-ear grin. "Fuck yeah, we did! We fucking--we took out the main man, Ray cut his head right off--" he's grabbing her by the shoulders as he talks, laughing, and Vicky barely sees it coming right before Joe leans in to give her a wet, quick kiss right on the mouth.

Vicky melts into it, letting his excitement be contagious. He's cute, and she's missed boys she wants to kiss as opposed to teenagers or sullen ones who drink all the time and hate everything. They're both laughing when he pulls back, and out of the corner of her eye Vicky sees Jesse, leaning against the outside wall of the school and watching.

"Good news?" is all Jesse says, and Vicky nods.

"Yeah, actually," she says. "Apparently we actually got the bad guy, can you believe it?"

The few other refugees who were left behind--mostly teenagers--are all outside now, confused and wanting to know what's going on or just happy because everyone else seems to be happy. Vicky sees the big guy with the crazy affro hair--Roy, she thinks?--raise a huge axe that's crusted with blood into the air, and everyone yells. For the first time in a long time, Vicky feels something resembling hope with nothing to dampen it.


End file.
